By Rafiu Ajakaye
LAGOS
Nigerian parties have raised concerns over the planned use of electronic card readers in this month's general election.
"Our position on the card reader remains that the machine has not been tested in any election," Femi Fani-Kayode, a spokesman for the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), told a news briefing on Wednesday.
"There are bases for genuine concern over the use of the machine, for the first time, in a crucial election of this magnitude," he added.
Fani-Kayode accused the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) of plotting "to frustrate accreditation in some parts of the country while not enforcing strict use of the machines in some other parts."
The PDP spokesman, however, did not explain how the APC would carry out such sabotage.
The APC insists on the use of electronic readers in the March 28 election.
The election commission says that the device would help curb malpractices such as use of fake voter cards during the polls.
Nigeria is slated to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on March 28.
Gubernatorial and state assembly polls will follow two weeks afterward on April 11.
Although 14 candidates plan to vie for the presidency, the poll is largely seen as a race between incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler running on the APC ticket.
Boycott
Earlier Wednesday, at least 15 political parties and five presidential candidates threatened to boycott the poll over the use of electronic readers during the vote.
Breakforth Onwubuya, National Chairman of Advanced Congress of Democrats and spokesman for the 15 parties, said that the use of the electronic device has a lot of "implications which may negatively impact on the conduct of a credible, free and fair election.”
"The first drawback is that this device is relatively a new technology that has not been tested or tried in a kind of mock election or previous formal elections prior to this time," he told a news briefing.
"This would have enabled the nation and the electoral umpire itself to properly ascertain its workability and efficiency in the conduct of the real general elections.
Spokesman for the commission chairman Kayode Idowu could not immediately be reached for comment.
